1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fabric material. More particularly, the invention relates to a fabric material that includes a conductive wire material that is able to generate heat when supplied with current.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known means for heating a seated surface of a vehicle seat, in which conductive threads (conductive wire materials) that are able to generate heat when supplied with current are braided in a skin material (fabric material) formed of a woven fabric (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-227384 (JP-A-2007-227384)). Each conductive thread is braided in the skin material in the seat width direction, and the plurality of conductive threads are arranged in the seat front-rear direction to thereby make it possible to heat the seated surface over a wide region. The conductive threads are electrically connected to one another by a conductive planar element that is connected over these conductive threads. The conductive threads are supplied with current by the planar element to generate heat.
However, in the above technique, when the planar element is electrically connected to the conductive threads in the fabric material by thermal welding, the planar element may not be welded to the conductive threads so as to be electrically connected to the conductive threads depending on the compatibility between the planar element and nonconductive threads that are principal components of the fabric material.